[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 180 (Friday, September 17, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50546-50547]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-24216]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 35-27073]


Filings Under the Public Holding Company Act of 1935, as Amended 
(``Act'')

September 10, 1999.
    Notice is hereby given that the following filing(s) has/have been 
made with the Commission pursuant to provisions of the Act and rules 
promulgated under the Act. All interested persons are referred to the 
application(s) and/or declaration(s) for complete statements of the 
proposed transaction(s) summarized below. The application(s) and/or 
declaration(s) and any amendments is/are available for public 
inspection through the Commission's Branch of Public Reference.
    Interested persons wishing to comment or request a hearing on the 
application(s) and/or declaration(s) should submit their views in 
writing by October 5, 1999, to the Secretary, Securities and Exchange 
Commission, Washington, DC 20549-0609, and serve a copy on the relevant 
applicant(s) and/or declarant(s) at the address(es) specified below. 
Proof of service (by affidavit or, in case of an attorney at law, by 
certificate) should be filed with the request. Any request for hearing 
should identify specifically the issues of facts or law that are 
disputed. A person who so requests will be notified of any hearing, if 
ordered, and will receive a copy of any notice or order issued in the 
matter. After October 5, 1999, the application(s) and/or 
declaration(s), as filed or as amended, may be granted and/or permitted 
to become effective.

Indiana Michigan Power Company (70-6458)

    Indiana Michigan Power Company (``I&M''), One Summit Square, P.O. 
Box 60, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46801, an electric utility subsidiary of 
American Electric Power Company, Inc., a registered holding company, 
has filed a post-effective amendment under sections 9(a), 10 and 12(d) 
of the Act and rule 54 under the Act to an application-declaration 
previously filed under the Act.
    By orders dated June 11, 1980, June 25, 1980, December 4, 1984, 
December 12, 1984, August 2, 1985, October 5, 1994 and June 26, 1995 
(HCAR Nos. 21618, 21642, 23514, 23528, 23781, 26136 and 26319) 
(``Orders''), I&M was authorized to enter into and amend agreements 
(collective, ``Agreements'') with the City of Rockport, Indiana 
(``City'') in connection with the construction and installation of 
pollution control facilities at I&M's Rockport Generating Station 
(``Facilities''). Under the Agreements, the City may issue and sell, in 
several series, its pollution control revenue bonds and pollution 
control refunding bond (``Refunding Bonds'') (together, ``Bonds'').
    The Orders also authorized I&M to convey the Facilities to the City 
and to reacquire them at a purchase price, payable on an installment 
basis semi-annually, in amounts that enable the City to pay, when due, 
the interest and principal on the Bonds and certain other fees and 
expenses. Currently, the City has issued three series of Bonds in an 
outstanding aggregate principal amount of $150 million.
    It is now proposed that, under the terms of the Agreements, I&M 
will cause the City to issue and sell, prior to June 30, 1999, one or 
more additional series of Refunding Bonds (``1999 Bonds'') in the 
aggregate principal amount of up to $50 million. The 1999 Bonds will 
mature on a date not more than thirty years from the date of issuance. 
The proceeds will be used to provide for the early redemption of the 
entire outstanding principal amount of $50 million of the City's Series 
1985 A Floating Rate Weekly Demand Bonds, due August 1, 2014.

National Fuel Gas Company, et al. (70-9525)

    National Fuel Gas Company (``NFG''), 10 Lafayette Square, Buffalo, 
New York 14203, a public utility holding company registered under the 
Act, and its nonutility subsidiaries National Fuel Gas Supply 
Corporation (``Supply''), 10 Lafayette Square, Buffalo, New York 14203; 
National Fuel Resources, Inc. (``Resources''), 165 Lawrence Bell Drive, 
Suite 120, Williamsville, New York 14221; Seneca Resources Corporation 
(``Seneca''); and Upstate Energy, Inc. (``Upstate Energy,'' and 
together with Supply, Resources and Seneca, the ``Nonutility 
Subsidiaries''), both located at 1201 Louisiana Street, Suite 400, 
Houston, Texas 77002, have filed an application under sections 9(a) and 
10 of the Act, sections 2(a) and 2(b) of the Gas Related Activities Act 
of 1990, and rule 54 under the Act.
    Supply, an interstate pipeline company, transports and stores 
natural gas for NFG's only public utility subsidiary, National Fuel Gas 
Distribution Corporation (``Distribution'') and for other utilities, 
pipelines, marketers, and large industrial customers in the 
northeastern United States. Seneca is engaged in the business of 
exploration and development of natural gas and oil producing reserves, 
chiefly in the on-shore and off-shore Gulf Coast region of Texas, 
Louisiana and Alabama, the Appalachian region, the Rocky Mountain 
region, and California. Resources markets natural gas, electricity, and 
other forms of energy to approximately 5,400 industrial commercial, and 
residential customers under long-term agreements, and provides other 
related energy services to these end-use customers. Upstate Energy 
engages in wholesale natural gas marketing and related activities.
    As more particularly discussed below, NFG requests authority 
through December 31, 2003 to acquire, through the Nonutility 
Subsidiaries, the equity and debt securities of one or more companies 
that are engaged in, or that are formed to engage in, certain 
categories of nonutility gas-related operations outside the United 
States (``Foreign Energy Affiliates''). NFG and the Nonutility 
Subsidiaries propose to

[[Page 50547]]

invest up to $300 million (`'Investment Limitation'') in the securities 
of Foreign Energy Affiliates. In addition, Resources and Update Energy 
request authority to engage directly in energy commodity marketing, 
brokering and related activities in Canada.
    Specifically, Seneca proposes to acquire the securities of, or 
other interests in, entities engaged in natural gas and oil exploration 
and production operations outside the United States. Paralleling its 
domestic exploration and production activities. Seneca intends to 
invest in entities with Canadian operations located where pipeline 
facilities are available to deliver reserves to customers of 
Distribution or of other NFG subsidiaries. Seneca anticipates that it 
will concentrate initially on investing in Foreign Energy Affiliates 
with operations in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Seneca 
requests that the Commission reserve jurisdiction over its investments 
in Foreign Energy Affiliates outside of the United States and Canada.
    Supply proposes to acquire the securities of, or other interests 
in, companies formed to construct and operate new pipeline and gas 
storage facilities outside the United States. Supply anticipates that 
it will initially focus on projects that are planned or under 
construction in Canada, Mexico, and South America. Supply has not yet 
identified any specific foreign pipeline or storage venture in which it 
wished to invest, and it request that the Commission reserve 
jurisdiction over any investment it makes in a Foreign Energy 
Affiliate.
    Resources and Upstate Energy propose to engage directly or 
indirectly in natural gas and other energy commodity marketing, 
brokering, and related activities outside the United States. 
Specifically, Resources and Upstate Energy request authority to invest 
in the aggregate either directly or indirectly, through one or more 
Foreign Energy Affiliates, up to $50 million of the Investment 
Limitation in Canadian nonutility facilities related to these 
activities. These would include natural gas or oil storage facilities, 
natural gas gathering and processing facilities, pipeline spurs to 
serve industrial customers, and meters, regulators, and similar 
nonutility equipment. The Canadian marketing and brokering operations 
of Resources and Upstate Energy would be substantially identical to 
their U.S. operations, although Canadian regulatory laws may impose 
different limitations or restrictions on these operations. The proposed 
brokering activities would involve acting as a middle man, usually for 
a fee, in energy commodity transactions. Marketing transactions could 
take a variety of forms. They may consist of purchases and sales of gas 
and other energy commodities where performance normally will be 
physical delivery of the underlying commodity. The may also include 
transactions that may or may not be settled by physical delivery, such 
as swaps or exchanges of energy commodities, and the sale of purchase 
of options, exchanged-traded futures contracts, or other derivative 
products to support marketing and brokering transactions.
    By order dated February 12, 1997 (HCAR No. 26666), the Commission 
reserved jurisdiction over Resources's energy marketing and brokering 
business outside the United States. Resources requests that the 
Commission release jurisdiction over its conduct of this business in 
Canada. Upstate Energy and Resources request that the Commission 
reserve jurisdiction over the conduct of this business outside the 
United States and Canada.
    NFG intends to provide the Nonutility Subsidiaries with funds and 
credit support necessary to enable them to acquire the securities of, 
or other interests in, Foreign Energy Affiliates. These investments by 
NFG in the Nonutility Subsidiaries would be funded by available cash 
and the proceeds to external financing previously approved by a 
Commission order dated March 20, 1998 (HCAR No. 26847) (``Financing 
Order''). The Nonutility Subsidiaries may borrow through the NFG system 
money pool to fund the activities proposed in the application. NFG may 
provide guarantees or other forms of credit support to or on behalf of 
the Nonutility Subsidiaries in this connection, subject to the 
authority of the Financing Order. NFG states that it would not attempt 
to recover any loss sustained through the proposed foreign gas-related 
activities, or compensate for any inadequate return on its investment 
in them, through higher rates to Distribution's customers.

    For the Commission by the Division of Investment Management, 
under delegated authority.
Jonathan G. Katz,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-24216 Filed 9-16-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-M